When CM Yogi announced that UP will see no more power cuts, residents of high-rise societies in Indirapuram reacted rather indifferently. In a city where most societies were backed by DGs, residents lived in bliss, grave power cuts notwithstanding.
Air conditioners worked in peak summers and while geysers made winters easy. So, when we invested in Indirapuram's ATS Advantage, the most up-market and posh society in the city, we knew we were paying a premium for the luxuries that far exceeded what other societies in the vicinity had.
But in the last few months, we — most ironically — realised that our expensive society was the only one facing serious power cuts. Initially, we didn’t feel the burden of power cuts, but soon the reality started to pinch everybody. Power cuts became more and more frequent, and people realised they were paying three times the cost of the electricity not only for their apartment, but also for the common area.
What’s disturbing further is that there is never an update from the authorities, the association or the builder unless pressed for. With mounting pressure from residents, the association attributed the daily nuisance to the line fault.
Next time, we were told that power cuts were happening due to work on NH 24, which impacted our supply lines. When residents demanded to know why this was happening only with our society, it was revealed that we don’t get our supply from Kala Patthar at all.
Our society has been surviving on DGs that work upto 36 hours sometimes!
There’s a bigger issue too — lack of any effort to ensure that some savings are enforced in the consumption of electricity in the common areas, especially during peak hours.
And now, the City Spidey report tells us that PVVNL, the builder and association are blaming each other for the frequent outages.
The residents have now risen to the occasion, and are mounting pressure on the builder and the AOA to:
Introduce power-saving measures and devices to help reduce the load on our pockets
Run awareness campaigns to make residents and workers save electricity, especially in the common area
You know, we could be setting an example here — one of the plushest addresses that took measures to reduce power consumption.
I think I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, finally!
